Oakland Housing Policies

The Housing Policy Section conducts studies, maintains data and statistics, provides information, advocates legislation, creates and ensures compliance with local, state and federal policies and procedures related to affordable housing in Oakland.

For current plans, please consult this page.

Notice to Homeowners and Developers

It is the policy of the City of Oakland to prioritize applications for affordable housing development Accessory Dwelling Unit projects, and other housing development over non-housing applications. Estimates for processing times for applications are on the Planning & Building Department website and may be found here. For questions regarding an individual application, please contact the Planning & Building Department.

Public Comment Opportunity: Prohousing Designation

The City of Oakland is seeking to renew its Prohousing Designation from the State of California.  A public comment draft is available for comments until October 29, 2025, and can be found below. Please address any comments to Caleb Smith at csmith4@oaklandca.gov.

The draft application is available at: Oakland-2025-Prohousing-Draft-Application.pdf(PDF, 695KB)